Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am pleased to bring the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 before the Dáil today. This Bill has been the subject of much speculation and discussion and has been a long time in gestation. Debate on the Bill has been driven by the wider waste policy landscape. While I wish to focus today on waste policy, I will also later set out the other elements of the Bill as published and some of the amendments I propose to table on Committee stage.

As Deputies will be aware, waste policy has been the subject of uncertainty and debate for many years. A review of waste policy initiated in 2007 failed to result in the adoption of any clear new waste policy. Therefore, a significant degree of stagnation developed in the waste sector and resulted in an uncertain investment environment. This uncertainty must end and I intend to use the opportunity today to set out the broad outline of the Government's approach to waste policy.

We have clearly signalled in the programme for Government that our policy will be based on the hierarchical approach to the management of waste, an issue to which I will return later. Our approach will provide clarity and will form the basis for a new waste policy which I will be bringing to Government later this year. The Bill I am presenting today will contribute to the development of that policy and to meeting Ireland's EU obligations in relation to the management of our waste.

I want to see effective, efficient and quality waste services being provided to business and householders alike. The guiding principles which will be used to develop our waste policy are in line with the approach set out in the programme for Government. They will adhere to the EU waste hierarchy and favour a coherent approach to waste management that minimises waste going to landfill and maximises the resources that can be recovered from it.

The policy will have a number of key features. It will be designed to minimise the volumes of waste generated and to extract the maximum value from those wastes which do arise; aimed at delivering a positive environmental outcome and maximising the collective well-being through ensuring efficient, effective and progressive waste services for consumers and businesses; will be calibrated to the immediate demands Ireland faces and to the long-term challenges; founded on a firm, evidence-based understanding of the many scientific, economic and social issues which are inherent elements of the waste policy discourse; will be consistent with the cornerstones of National and European policy, including the waste hierarchy, the principle that the polluter pays, sustainable materials management and the urgent imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; will be in keeping with the complementary roles which the private and public sectors can play; designed to facilitate necessary investment in infrastructure, within an appropriately regulated waste market framework; and will be sufficiently flexible to respond to emerging developments in relation to technology, operational practice and wider thinking in the waste management policy realm.

We need to make progress and to make up for lost time in driving forward our management of waste. In doing so, we must be realistic about our starting point. As clearly indicated in the programme for Government, the internationally recognised waste hierarchy is the bedrock on which our waste policy must sit. In an early move to underpin this, I have recently signed regulations to complete Ireland's transposition of the waste framework directive, giving statutory recognition to the hierarchy in Irish law. Taking that forward, and looking at how we are performing by reference to the hierarchy, the stark message that jumps out is that Ireland is overly dependent on landfill. Despite the very significant progress that has been made over the last decade, we are still sending more than 60% of our municipal waste to landfill. Compare that to countries such as Sweden and the Netherlands where only 1% of municipal waste is landfilled and it becomes abundantly clear that we have significant work yet to do. Accepting the urgent need to make a rapid and significant move away from landfill must be our initial step on the road to the provision of a diverse range of waste treatment options.

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